


Chance Meeting

by White Aster (white_aster)



Category: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 01:35:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1963983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/white_aster/pseuds/White%20Aster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yazoo finds himself somewhere new and meets someone...interesting.  (post-AC, post-game)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chance Meeting

Yazoo wakes, confused, from a dream of green grass and blue sky, his head pounding. He opens his eyes, and the headache makes more sense: he's having trouble focusing. Concussion, the analytical part of him observes. It is silent when he tries to remember how he _got_ the concussion, though.

There was an explosion, then Cloud, then Kadaj, and rain. And then there was green grass and blue sky and peace for just an instant.

And then he'd been alone, knee-deep in some kind of marsh, a behemoth larger than any he'd ever seen turning to look at him curiously.

He had run, and the thing had chased him. He'd unloaded Velvet Nightmare into it over and over again, reloading as he ran, until he was out of bullets and tiring and it had caught him with a clawswipe, tossing him into a boulder and--

Darkness, for an indeterminate amount of time.

Yazoo closes his eyes, feeling, listening. The behemoth might still be around, or someone else. Or perhaps even Loz and Kadaj, though the last is mostly wishful thinking. The place in the back of his brain where his brothers used to hum is now quiet. Where are they? How did he get here? Where _was_ he? Was this Mother's doing? Sephiroth's? The pink witch's?

Yazoo reins in his thoughts. Enough time for that later, when he is sure of his surroundings.

He is lying on dry ground. The wind brings him the smell of stagnant water and grass. Still in the marsh, then. Strange chitterings and buzzings come from several directions...probably small animals. Yazoo vaguely remembers some of them scattering away from him and the behemoth. They had looked...unfamiliar.

The grass rustlings change, become more of a rhythmic swishing. Something is coming, or someone. Too small to be the behemoth, and only...two feet...and grating ever so slightly like a shoe against rock. Human, then. And getting closer. 

It's possible that it's someone harmless. But now is not the time to be incautious.

The person is approaching, blocking the watery sunlight from falling on Yazoo's face.

Now.

Yazoo surges up, eyes flashing open. He has a quick impression of a long-haired man in some kind of blue uniform, of red eyes widening, before he's reaching for the man's throat. He will take control of the situation and the man will tell him what he wants to know.

Only it doesn't quite work that way. Oh, Yazoo is faster than this human, and he takes the initiative, but the stranger is not a complete innocent. His surprise is quickly overcome, his feet dancing backwards to keep a breath of distance between them as his hands sweep up and back. Yazoo expects a blow but presses the advantage, keeping the man off-balance, closing the gap and getting a handful of the man's collar. Blue light blazes around the man's right hand, and Yazoo braces for the impact of a spell. Another step and the man's back slams into a rock outcropping, and Yazoo has him, Velvet Nightmare's blade pressed to his throat.

As there is the point of a spear pressed over Yazoo's heart, still flickering with the blue light of its summoning. The man's casting was fast, and under duress. Yazoo is slightly impressed. 

They hold for a second, each eyeing the other's weapon. When neither pushes further, the man actually _smiles_. "My. You're rather tougher than you look, hmm? I apologize if it appeared I was sneaking up on you. I assure you, had I known that you were alive I would have made a lot more noise."

Wonderful. The man is one of those who likes to talk and yet say nothing. "Who are you?" Yazoo demands.

"Brigadier Jade Curtiss of the Malkuth military." He sounds at ease, as if they are introducing themselves over tea. He even inclines his head a fraction, pressing into Nightmare's edge. It's almost as out of place as the military he mentions. What is Malkuth? "And you might be?" 

Yazoo ignores the question. He doesn't like how this man isn't afraid of someone with a blade at his throat. "Where are we?"

Something changes in the man's eyes, some sharpening of interest that Yazoo dislikes even more than the man's self-possession. The man's answer pauses a beat, and Yazoo can almost see the easy calculation behind the man's eyes. "Inista Marsh. Are you lost?"

It is a trick question, veiled in innocent concern. Yazoo can tell by the look in the man's eyes, the quirk of his lips. He is trying to get Yazoo to give something away. Two questions in and Yazoo's blade at his throat, and somehow the man has gained the upper hand.

He is a formidable opponent. Fearless. Clever. Brute force is obviously not going to work with him, and he's presented himself as reasonably friendly (if somewhat irritating). Best to change tactics and see where this will go.

Yazoo pushes away from the rock, the man, the man's spear. He lets Velvet Nightmare drop to his side and lifts his other hand to his head, shakily. "I...I don't know.... That monster attacked me. It threw me into the rocks...I think I hit my head." He doesn't have to feign squinting at the man's face to make it come into focus. He needs a cure spell. "I...I'm afraid I don't remember much."

The man watches him for a moment. Reading Yazoo, trying to decide whether he's lying or not. He is fearless like Kadaj, but he is canny like Yazoo...always thinking, always analyzing. It shows behind his eyes. If it comes to a battle of wits, this man, Yazoo realizes, might actually be a challenge. The idea is slightly fascinating, and Yazoo shunts it aside. 

The man has made up his mind. Not to believe Yazoo, perhaps, but to at least play along. "Hmm...head wounds are known to do that. Your memory should return to you in time." The man lets the summoned spear dissipate, then pushes up his spectacles. "In the meantime...this isn't a very safe place to wait about. That behemoth wasn't the only one prowling the marsh. I don't suppose that you remember which way you were going?"

Yazoo shakes his head, gives a helpless little smile that he knows makes him look clueless. "I'm sorry...."

The man waves a hand. "No matter." His lips, set in an apparently permanent slight smile, quirk upwards. "If you're willing to overlook our rocky start and trust me, I am heading to Belkend. Perhaps someone there might know you?"

Yazoo won't get his hopes up. Still, having someone show him the way out of this marsh would be helpful, at the least. "Thank you. I ah...I'm sorry that I jumped at you like that. You startled me."

"Quite all right!" The man waves a hand again, actually turns his back on Yazoo as he leads the way.

Yes, quite fearless. 

Then they top the rise, and off to their left Yazoo sees the behemoth that had been chasing him. Or what is left of it. It's burned nearly black, deep smoking gouges rent in its skin, as if it met the wrong end of an Ultima spell or ten. 

In front of him, the man...Jade?...leads him down the hill, where a trail leads off across relatively solid ground. He's whistling softly.

Yes...a challenge, indeed. 

\------------

Jade leaves off whistling to smile. He hadn't been sure what to expect when he'd been notified of the strange fonic convergence in Inista Marsh. Still, he'd been curious and looking for a bit of exercise. It would be, he'd thought, a pleasant enough diversion. An odd monster, perhaps, or a rogue fonic master attempting to destroy the world at the _very_ most. 

Instead, he'd found a deadly and oddly beautiful man wielding a weapon the likes of which Jade had never seen. And who was good enough to lie to him but not quite good enough to hide his confusion. As if he'd been transported somewhere completely different from where he'd been before. And who practically _reeked_ of fonic resonances that reminded Jade something of fomicry but not...not quite, thankfully. Darker...stranger, like nothing that Jade had ever encountered.

Jade couldn't wait to get him to walk over one of the sensors in the Belkend lab. He had a feeling that this stranger's fonic signature would be very, _very_ interesting, indeed.


End file.
